In response to the third prompt I think there is one particularly effective frame that shows the passing of time, while it is only a single frame. On page 71 Marji is depicted in one of the largest single frames of the novel simply floating in outer space with a lost look on her face. She is very small in comparison to the large frame of stars and planets. I think this frame demonstrates the passing of time very well. It shows the adolescent feeling of being lost, not entirely sure of the world around you. It portrays a sense of confusion we have all experienced at one point in our life. But the part of the picture that shows how time is passing is the fact that Marji is in a new place, unfamiliar territory, her life is changing around her. Floating in outer space shows that she is in completely foreign territory that is new to her.
So I would agree with Schirato and Webb you can only "infer it" but it is very apparent that there is a change in Marji's life in this single frame. Her beloved uncle is dead and a war has begun. You can clearly see the shift in the frame even if no time is actually passing.
I definitely agree with this. I did this same prompt and I considered writing about this one. I think that the sense of time is expressed really well by the infinity of space.
ReplyDeleteWow, Emily... you really hit the nail on the head here. I hadn't really thought much of that frame in that way, but being so large as to take up an entire page, it does seem important! I'm glad that I'm now taking a second look at it!
ReplyDeleteTo me (being a philosophical kind of thinker), I'm automatically drawn to the idea that although so much time and change is happening within this single frame, there are a lot of permanent elements (such as space, floating, and darkness). The panel is an image of psychological change, but also an image of being lost in a timeless limbo of space. It's a bit of a paradox, but do you see what I mean??
I agree! It is an interesting paradox. She is seemly immobile (even her facial expression seems permanent) and space is a very concrete thing and yet is shows so much change. So I would have to agree saying it is a very psychological change for her rather than a physical one.
ReplyDeleteYeah it's interesting which slides are larger than other ones and for why the ones of different proportions have importance to the story as a whole.
ReplyDeleteI often think about if Satrapi was to redo the book with color how she would color in the entire thing but also her ability to use the medium of a comic rather than story without pictures to describe iran.
I loved this frame. How Satrapi shows Marji floating in space and how her words about having no bearing coincides with this physical visual of floating through space with nothing to hold onto. The physical and the pyschological complement each other really well. How Marji looks frozen as if nothing has happened while it looks like she's floating where so much time could have passed becuase it's like everything she know's is lost.
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with the passing of time, but would this not also be a "passing of ideology" as well? This is the first time Marji actually realizes she doesn't understand the war and revolt. It is the first moment after casting God out of her life, and the first time she is truly on her own. This is the pivotal moment in her childhood when she stops worrying about how her family appears to her friends and the lack of heroes in her life. In the frames after this, at least to me, she becomes more interested in how the war is affecting her country and less on her families image.
ReplyDeleteThis changing in the ideals can be inferred from the worried and confused look on her face. While she was so secure in what she believed before her uncle was executed, she is confused as to what is right now. Even when someone yells at her to retreat to the basement, she just floats there in outer space, unsure about everything.